Published 1:41 am, Saturday, November 17, 2012

The question over the first two periods of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' 3-1 win was, where was that Sound Tigers team?

"Overall I thought we weren't competing at the level we needed to compete at to be successful (in) the first two periods," coach Scott Pellerin said. "The third period, we had more chances. We were more desperate."

By then, Eric Tangradi had completed a hat trick, all on the power play, two broken-play goals and one deflection.

Neither team scored at even strength, when goalies Kevin Poulin and Jeff Zatkoff both were excellent. But the Penguins dominated play at five-on-five, particularly in a second period when Bridgeport barely got chances.

That second period began with a ragged first shift featuring a couple of turnovers.

"We just kind of came out flat," Bridgeport defenseman Ty Wishart said. "We weren't talking in the defensive zone. They took advantage."

The Penguins kept momentum all period, outshooting Bridgeport 16-4, and Tangradi's third goal, a redirection at 13:36, made it 3-1.

"They beat us to loose pucks in the defensive zone," Pellerin said. "We had extended shifts: We couldn't get guys off. They just continued to generate momentum."

One extended shift late in the period only ended when veteran defenseman Nathan McIver got Tom Kuhnhackl into enough of a scrum to draw matching minors from referee Geno Binda. McIver was sprung for a breakaway out of the penalty box, but Zatkoff stopped him.

"They just played their system to a T," Wishart said. "The third period, we started to pick it up a bit. We started banging bodies. The results speak for themselves."

Bridgeport outshot the Penguins 10-4 in the third, looking more like the team that came in 8-3. Zatkoff made memorable saves on Brock Nelson and Sean Backman in close.

Tangradi scored 92 seconds into the game when former Sound Tigers forward Trevor Smith's pass was blocked in front, allowing Tangradi to catch Poulin moving with quick hands.

Johan Sundstrom tied it on Bridgeport's first power play. Tangradi untied it when Beau Bennett's centering pass, apparently intended for Benn Ferriero in front, bounced off him to Tangradi at the right post.

Max MacKay made his pro debut for Bridgeport on right wing on the fourth line. David Ullstrom, out since Nov. 3 with a lower-body injury, remained out but was available for Saturday's home game against Manchester.

Preceding the game will be a college tilt between Sacred Heart and AIC at 4 p.m.

ABOUT THE MONARCHS: Manchester came back from two goals down but lost 3-2 Friday at Providence. ¦ RW Brandon Kozun leads the team at 5-8-13. C Andrei Loktionov is 4-5-9. ¦ Former Bridgeport G Peter Mannino made his second start Friday night; Martin Jones (6-4-1) has the bulk of the time in goal.

ABOUT THE SOUND TIGERS: Bridgeport lost 3-1 Friday at Wilkes-Barre. Johan Sundstrom scored the goal on a power play. ¦ LW Nino Niederreiter extended his scoring streak to six games. C Brock Nelson's five-game scoring streak, with a goal in each, ended. ¦ RW David Ullstrom (lower body) is available to return. Casey Cizikas (undisclosed) remained out Friday. RW Colin McDonald serves the second and final game of a league suspension.